A 21-year-old walker from Leicester has escaped with cuts and bruises after falling more than 1,200 feet down a mountain.

Mountain rescue experts said the man, who has not been named, was lucky to be alive after falling near the summit of Mount Snowdon on Monday. The man was airlifted to hospital by an RAF search and rescue Sea King helicopter belonging to 22 Squadron, the unit in which Prince William (pictured) is a pilot.

The man was in a hypothermic state when found but was released yesterday with superficial injuries.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team spokesman Phil Benbow said: "This young man is very lucky to be alive. When you slip off a mountain in an uncontrolled fall like that it is a lottery as to whether your head hits a rock or not.

"When your head hits a rock there tends to be only one winner. It is no exaggeration to say he could have been killed."

The man slipped at about 12.25pm as he and friends made their way down after reaching the summit of Snowdon – the highest mountain in Wales at 1,085 metres (3,560ft).

Mr Benbow said the walker, who was wearing crampons and carrying an ice axe, slipped on Watkin Path and fell into Cwm Tregalen.

Mr Benbow, who co-ordinated the rescue, said: "One of his party raised the alarm by mobile phone.

"He would have been sliding very quickly down hard snow and ice.

"As it happened, members of the rescue team were enjoying a day on the slopes nearby so he was lucky again that we could get to him relatively quickly."

Mr Benbow said the man was conscious and spoke to the 18-man rescue team as they waited for the helicopter, which took him away at 1.30pm.

The man was taken to Bangor Hospital, where he spent the night.

Mr Benbow said it was windy and cloudy on the mountain with hard-packed snow underfoot.

He said: "As it turned out, the young man only suffered superficial injuries in this incident.

"He was released from hospital the next day. "

"How lucky he was is demonstrated by the fact that about two hours later we dealt with another man who fell 200 metres (650ft) on Snowdon.

"He sustained serious head injuries and was taken to hospital in a bad way."

A spokeswoman for RAF Valley declined to confirm whether Prince William was piloting the helicopter that rescued the Leicester man.

Do you know the man who was rescued? Call newsdesk on 0116 222 4241, send a tweet to @thisisleics or e-mail: